I go onto Facebook... I discover C has started a travel blog... I wander over to check it out, decide to post a comment and... "what's my blog address again?"

It's ok. I worked it out. (would have been even more concerning if I didn't). but I did still open a new tab to check. (yes. I know.) and had a brief panic over "what's my password" before realising that my open gmail had already taken care of that for me.

Clearly a sign I need to update more often.

1am in the morning with a work day tomorrow is probably not the best time though.

Well it has been like forever since I last wrote in my blog. Over 2 months - that's really bad. I've been busy yes, but I'm pretty much always busy. It's hard for me to tell if my life has been more hectic than usual or not. I think it has, but also I haven't really felt like blogging.

And then the longer you leave it, the harder it is to get back into it because you've got 5 billion trillion things that you were going to blog about and never got round to at the time and oh my god where do I start... Argh!

Does anyone else have this problem? ...maybe it's just me.

So the short version:

Since last post,

• I had a housemate for a month (long story). It was both good and bad for a whole range of reasons that I'm not going to go into right now. Overall, it was more good than bad. There were times it was quite a close call, but yeah it was a good experience and I'd do it again. Which is a good thing because she's coming back at some point.
  
• I have acquired, remarkably quickly, by various means, most of the things on my gifts list from the last post - including the couch, kitchen bench unit, knives, glasses, roasting tray, some plants. So pretty much everything bar the toaster, salad spinner
  
• I now live with a digital piano (and it didn't cost me anything - I'm "baby-sitting" it). This is so incredibly cool, I can't explain how cool this is. I am trying to teach myself to play - I think I am slowly making progress. It would be nice to make progess more quickly, maybe I should get lessons... but I'm not aiming to be technically good, I just want to be able to songs I like reasonably well - ie above 'just recognisable' but less than 'excellent'
  
• I am trying to decide whether to buy a rock-climbing harness. (and chalk bag). I've found the one I want - if I decide to buy that is - mammut lotus (small) from mountain designs. It's red, $109.95.
  
• I still haven't started taking private dance lessons which I have been meaning to do for over a year now.
  
• I'm still single. Nothing new there.
  
• Work is work. I'm bored with it but still don't know what I might prefer to do. So nothing new there either.
  
• I love my new flat. It is so much better than the previous one. So much better. Yeah, it's not perfect (like today I discovered that someone, somewhere along the line has decided that it is a good idea to have the lawn-mowing man come at 8.30 on a Saturday morning. Um excuse me? Not impressed. GRRR!), but relatively minor issues aside, it's great. I love it.
  

Really can't think of anything else right now - in fact I'm barely keeping my eyes open... so I think it's time to finish off and go to bed. G'night.

New Place

I haven't had a chance to blog for ages. What with xmas, new years, work and moving apartments I've had barely a moment to myself since early december. I didn't have any time off work over the holiday season either - just the public holidays and my normal days off.

During a brief moment of insanity several weeks before Xmas I decided to inspect and then apply for a new apartment. Then I got the place and had to deal with the whole moving thing right between xmas and new year. Lots of fun [/sarcasm]. I won't pretend it was good because it wasn't - it was crazy and hectic and stressful and I don't know what I would have done without all the wonderful people who came and helped me (especially Mum, who gave up the better part of a week). Gone insane probably. More insane, I mean - clearly I must have been insane when I decided to move between xmas and new year.

But it's over. Thank god. (Well, apart from finishing unpacking and waiting for the old real estate agents to decide how much of my bond I get back.)

And the new place is worth it. It's twice the size, 2 bedrooms instead of 1, barely more expensive, quiet street/neighbours, across the road from a park, and walking distance to the train. That's my definition of walking distance too, so really not far. I haven't tried the walk yet -I've been meaning to but haven't had the chance - but I estimate it'd be about 10min.

I'm debating whether to get a housemate or not. Cheaper rent would definitely be a big bonus but I don't know how I'll go with living with someone all the time. I like my space and I don't like having people around all the time. I think with the right person I'd be right. Someone who's not intrusive, who's out a fair bit of the time or maybe someone who works evenings. Definitely no party animals or noisy/loud people. Also I don't want someone who has to be around people or someone who would expect me to talk to them all the time. It probably sounds like I'm totally anti-social or something but I'm not really. Just sometimes. Sometimes, probably even most of the time, I like being sociable, but at other times I don't feel like talking to people and just want to be left alone. I'd need someone who would respect that.

I am going to keep my eyes open for a housemate anyway. There are plenty of advantages to it that I haven't gone into above. But I won't just take someone for the sake of filling the room. If I can't find someone who I think I would be able to live with relatively easily, I'll leave it empty.

Anyway better go home and have some dinner. If anyone is wondering what to get me for a housewarming present here is a list of things I want to get for my new place. (Note: presents are neither required nor expected, but I know some of my friends are the sort to give me a present anyway even when I tell them not to worry about it, so I figure I might as well get some things I want)

Not sure when the housewarming's going to be... Maybe this weekend, so the friend who has to go back to whoop-whoop (Kalgoorlie) on Sunday can come, or otherwise I might do a combined housewarming, birthday party later in the year.

So, things I want for my new place:

• a small couch (I finally have space for one, yay!) obviously I'm not expecting anyone would buy me a new one (not even my parents), but I'll quite happily take hand-me-downs or opshop furniture so long as it's in semi-decent nick.
• a kitchen bench unit - to create more bench space in my kitchen. (ditto above)
• kitchen bits and pieces - toaster (2 slice), salad spinner, a salad bowl with a tight fitting lid (the sort of thing you'd use to take a salad to a picnic), a decent chefs knife (like Mum's victorinox one), glasses - maybe 4, stove to oven casserole dish, roasting tray
• plants - such as pots of fresh herbs or other things you can eat, preferably unkillable ones :-P, the balcony doesn't get much sun, a dwarf fruit tree in a pot would be really cool although it'd probably die of neglect like most of my previous plants. Non edible plants are ok, but I prefer useful ones
• chair custions - 2 outdoor ones for the 2 white plastic chairs I have on my balcony, and some for the backs of the dining chairs I've got.
• maybe a picnic rug

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head, even though I know there's plenty more. gtg anyway the library's kicking us out... I'll update the list later if I remember.